The Qingchuan Mountains stretched in a continuous, perilous range. Clouds and mist shrouded the peaks. Ancient trees scraped the sky. Rumors spoke of ferocious beasts and strange demons lurking within—a place where few dared to tread.
At noon, sunlight filtered through layers of leaves, dappling the forest clearing with scattered spots of light.
A beam of light slowly shifted and fell upon the face of a young boy sleeping against a tree trunk. His features were delicate, his long hair casually tied behind his head.
His eyelashes fluttered slightly. He slowly opened his eyes, a trace of just-wakened confusion in them.
"Hah…" He let out a long breath and rubbed his forehead. "What a strange dream… Earth? A spaceship? And… technology?"
The fragments of the dream receded like a tide, leaving only vague traces. He tried hard to recall, but grasped only a few scattered words: "technology… Jane… a blonde woman…"
A slight dizziness swept over him, and he shook his head.
"Ah, I must have trained too hard and nearly suffered a deviation." The boy muttered to himself, steadied his mind, and leaped down from the tree trunk four or five meters high.
Just as he was about to land, as if by instinct, he quietly commanded: "Activate quantum defense system!"
Naturally, nothing responded. Yet he landed lightly and steadily.
The boy froze. "What's going on?" He looked around in alarm. The dense ancient forest, the fragrant scent of plants and trees—everything felt both familiar and strange.
"Mu Yun, have you lost your mind? Still not awake?" He patted his own face. The sensation of pain was real.
"No, this is reality." He took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart. He leaped back onto the tree trunk, then down again. He picked up a woodcutter's knife from the ground and swung it. The blade whistled through the air. His moves were still immature, but already showed some structure.
After a moment, he stopped, slumped to the ground, and quietly confirmed: "That's right. I am Mu Yun. I live in seclusion here with Old Master, chopping Purple Bamboo every day to temper my body, all for the sake of early Foundation Establishment so I can enter an immortal sect."
He looked at the bundle of freshly cut Purple Bamboo not far away and felt somewhat reassured. This was his world!
Seeing that the day was growing late, the boy thought of Old Master's sternness, shrank his neck, and hurriedly dragged the Purple Bamboo, preparing to return.
Roar—!
Just then, an earth-shaking beast's roar came from the other side of the bamboo grove! Immediately after, a terrifying wave of air laced with a thick stench swept over!
Mu Yun was flung directly by the air wave and crashed heavily into a tree trunk. The foul stench nearly made him faint.
He struggled to his feet and looked toward the source of the air wave—the area of the mysterious forest that Old Master had strictly forbidden him to enter. Terror filled his heart. For many years, that place had been quiet, but today, something had changed!
The sounds of fighting followed—sword energies crisscrossing, thunderous explosions ringing out without end. Clearly, some great experts were battling ferocious beasts!
Mu Yun's face paled. He quickly dropped the Purple Bamboo, drew his woodcutter's knife, and also took out a faintly glowing bamboo slip from his bosom, gripping it in his hand. He retreated quickly, using the bamboo slip's power to conceal his form, and hid behind an ancient tree.
The sounds of battle gradually moved away, seeming to go deeper into the forest. Only then did Mu Yun dare to peek out. He saw large swaths of Purple Bamboo cut off at the roots. Further away, the forest was in shambles—ancient trees toppled, the ground cracked.
"Immortals doing battle…" Mu Yun's pupils contracted. He realized that he had encountered a fight between legendary cultivators.
…
Deep in the forest, two young men in blue robes stood on tree branches, holding ancient longswords with cyan light flowing over the blades. The younger one had his left arm severed, blood gushing from the wound. The elder had a cold, stern expression, staring fixedly at a gigantic tiger not far away—its body pitch black, wreathed in dark flames.
The black tiger was extraordinarily majestic. In its mouth, it actually held a severed arm!
"Spectral God Tiger! My martial brother and I came only to take one of your cubs back to our sect to report our mission. We have no intention of harming your lives. If you persist in this entanglement, do not blame us for slaying the demon!" the elder young man called out coldly.
The black tiger growled low, as if it understood human speech. It crouched low, poised to pounce.
Thinking it had submitted, the elder young man was about to speak again when the black tiger suddenly exploded into action—swift as black lightning!
The young man roared, directed his sword with a gesture, and a sharp cyan sword energy slashed toward the tiger's claws!
A clang of metal rang out! Sparks flew!
The black tiger withstood the sword energy, its momentum undiminished, and in an instant pounced on the already one-armed young man!
"Brother Leng, save me!" A cry of anguish rose.
A flicker of hesitation crossed Brother Leng's eyes, then was replaced by ruthlessness. Instead of saving him, he fled on his sword, while simultaneously forming a hand seal and shouting harshly: "Explode!"
The body of the young man pinned under the tiger's claw swelled at the command and detonated with a massive blast!
The earth shook! When the smoke and dust cleared, a huge crater remained. The black tiger lay dying in a pool of blood.
Brother Leng, his robes tattered, walked out of the forest, carrying two pitch-black tiger cubs about a foot long in his arms. A look of smug satisfaction appeared on his face. "A beast is, after all, a beast… A pity about Martial Brother Zhang."
Before he finished speaking, another change occurred! The black tiger, which should have been dead, had a final burst of life. One of its venomous claws silently pierced through Brother Leng's abdomen!
"Ah!" Brother Leng shrieked horribly. He struggled free and with a backhanded slash cut off the tiger's claw. But the wound was already blackening and rotting. He quickly swallowed a pill, ignored the fleeing tiger cubs, and stumbled toward the direction of the Purple Bamboo grove.
"As long as I get out of the Demon Sealing Realm… I can send word to the sect…" His consciousness was fading, but he pushed on with all his strength.
A quarter of an hour later, he finally reached the edge of the Purple Bamboo grove. Feeling the weakening of the sealing power, a glimmer of hope appeared on his pale face. He immediately sent out a distress signal, then collapsed to the ground, barely breathing.
Just then, footsteps approached from a distance. Brother Leng forced himself to look up. A boy in simple clothes, holding a woodcutter's knife, was looking at him warily.
Seeing the man's severe injuries, the boy felt a flicker of compassion. "Are you alright?"
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Brother Leng asked in return, his gaze scrutinizing.
"A villager gathering firewood nearby," Mu Yun answered, according to the identity in his memory.
"A villager?" Brother Leng glanced at the bundle of Purple Bamboo and sneered inwardly—"Purple Bamboo is tough; how could a mortal cut it?"—but kept his expression unchanged. "I am badly wounded… Little brother, if you can save me, I will reward you handsomely."
Mu Yun hesitated for a moment. Seeing how faint the man's breath was, he felt reluctant to refuse. "My family knows some medicine. I'll help you back."
"Good… then come here," Brother Leng said, his voice weak.
Though still wary, Mu Yun stepped forward. Just as he drew near, thinking the man was unconscious and off guard—
"Die! Ant!" Brother Leng suddenly erupted, thrusting his longsword straight at Mu Yun's throat! The killing intent was piercing!
They were too close. The pressure of the sword energy left Mu Yun utterly unable to move! He could only watch as death descended!
At that critical moment—
A foreign consciousness seemed to awaken from deep within Mu Yun's soul! A string of commands surged out like instinct!
"Activate nuclear arc reactor!"
"Activate quantum defense system!"
"Plasma light wave… fire!"
Mu Yun's right index finger lifted uncontrollably, and a dazzling silvery-blue beam of light instantly condensed and shot forth!
Thwump!
Brother Leng's longsword stopped a mere inch from Mu Yun's throat, snapped in two! He looked down in shock to see a charred hole bored through his chest!
"A… a Golden Core elder?!" His eyes filled with terrified disbelief. Then he fell forward to the ground, dead.
Mu Yun withdrew his finger, a lingering heat at its tip.
He looked at the corpse on the ground, his gaze turning eerily calm and deep—utterly unlike that of a young boy.
"This body… can directly fire ion weapons without technological enhancement? It seems its baseline physical qualities far exceed those of Earth humans."
"The nuclear arc reactor fired one shot and has gone silent again… it needs time to recover."
"But the antimatter combat system… seems to be running at low frequency, and resonating with some kind of energy in this world…"
He recalled Brother Leng's dying exclamation.
"Golden Core elder? Body Refining, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul…"
"This… is a world of cultivation civilization?"
At the same time, more unfamiliar fragments of memory flooded into his mind: "Qingchuan City… cultivation… Old Master?"
"Are these memories from the body's original owner?" Mu Yun shook his head, forcing himself to endure the discomfort.
"No, there's a gap in memory… The memory from meeting the golden figure deep in the cosmos until this moment is missing. What happened during that time?"
"And now… am I still me? Two souls in one body? Or a fusion of memories?"
After a long while, Mu Yun's thoughts gradually settled. He turned his attention to the technological systems.
"The antimatter combat system resonates with the energy of this realm… This indirectly confirms the theory of antimatter."
He looked out at this unfamiliar world, a scientist's gleam of inquiry shining in his eyes.
"So this… is the world that antimatter theory pointed toward?"